Absorbent articles of the above mentioned kind are known in which slits are created, said slits extending through the entire or part of the thickness of an absorbent core in order to promote the spread of body liquid along said slits. Such longitudinally extending distribution slits are known from EP-A-0 758 543.The slits extend in the longitudinal direction of the absorbent core and are located in parallel. The inner and outer cover of the absorbent core, in the form of a topsheet and a backsheet, are bonded to each other along the slits to form linear grooves extending along the slits.
An absorbent core in a diaper is further known from EP-A-0 734 240, which comprises a main body having a leg recess at each side thereof and two side bodies placed laterally outside the main body on respective sides thereof and in the respective leg recess. There is a gap between the main body and the side bodies and the outer and inner cover sheets are joined to each other in the gaps between the main body and the side bodies. Contraction of the leg elastics of the diaper will cause the side bodies to swing upwards and thus create a basin shape formed by the main body and the upraised side bodies.
It is further known from various prior art documents to provide compressed grooves in an absorbent core in order to promote distribution of body fluids along said grooves. Examples of documents disclosing such compressed grooves are WO 95/0763 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,563,013.
Absorbent articles having an improved comfort by narrowing the width of the area where the article is applied in the crotch of the wearer (crotch area) during use are known through a number of prior art documents, for example EP-A-1 384 459,which discloses a minimum width of the article in the crotch area of from 250 to 350 mm. However if the width of the crotch portion is too narrow, the absorption capacity in this area, where the body fluid is discharged, will be insufficient and leakage is likely to occur.